Tag Archives: Mexican

Today Arthur and I headed over to the University of Melbourne to take part in the Stop Hunger Now food packing event hosted by Zambrero. Zambrero’s mission for World Food Day today was to pack 350,000 meals for people in need. The food packing events took place in Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide, Perth, Wagga Wagga and Townsville, with all the packaged meals to be distributed locally via Foodbank and internationally via International Care Ministries. With the challenge set, Arthur and I registered and showed up for our two hour shift!

The event was really well organised and I was relieved to have things well explained but also have the handy information sheets at my stations. We began with watching a video of what we had to do then chose stations, which we were later able to swap. The filling stations involved four people with a sachet of vitamins being placed in a bag, holding the open bag under the yellow funnel shown in the photos, then filling with measured amounts of dehydrated soy, lentils and rice.

A runner would take the filled bags to the weighing stations. We had to ensure each bag weighed between 389g and 394g. As the rice was the last ingredient placed in the bags, we were able to add or take out rice to meet the required weight. Once we all began to pick up the pace, the tables got a little messy!

When a bag was the correct weight, it was given to the sealing station for the bag to be completely sealed. From there, the sealed bags were packed in to boxes.

It was loads of fun and I enjoyed watching others who, like me, started off slowly trying to get it right and then boom, suddenly you’re going top speed! Every time a milestone was reached, someone would get to bang the gong. Arthur was quite pleased to have a turn. We got to try all of the different tasks and his favourite was the packing. Mine was the weighing. At the end we got to sign the Stop Hunger Now poster. This poster was actually used to count the bags of food. Each square had to contain two bags before being placed in to the cardboard boxes (only thirty six bags could go in the boxes). Here are some more images of the event, there were more boxes than this packed!

We were all given a Zambrero voucher for a burrito or bowl. I love Zambrero burritos– they’re just stuffed so much that I can’t work out how the staff manage to fold them neatly! Zambrero aren’t a vegan business but their vegan options are great. I’ve had vegan burritos from other places that are really mehhhh and lacking. Not so with Zambrero. They’re very generous with the guacamole too and you can double up on the rice and beans. Next time I’m going to try the new IQ range which includes black rice with spirulina and amaranth, guacamole and pepitas and black beans salsa. All my favourites! The IQ range has been designed to provide eight key vitamins and minerals to support cognitive functions like memory, concentration and learning. I always appreciate a considerate, well thought out healthy menu and this is another reason why I like Zambrero.

I’m also a Zambrero customer because of their Plate 4 Plate initiative. For every burrito or bowl sold, Zambrero donate a meal to people in need. According to the ticker on the Zambrero website, nearly seven million meals have been donated so far. Check out my burrito and the Melbourne Uni outlet:

Today’s event made me determined to be far more diligent when it comes to preventing food wastage. I try to be mindful but often end up going to use some fresh produce and finding it has gone bad and has to be binned. According to Foodbank, Australians spend 7.8 BILLION dollars on food a year that is thrown away!

Zambrero have numerous outlets around Melbourne and Australia. I’ve been to Melbourne Uni, Brunswick, Geelong West and Darlinghurst (Sydney) and always have good customer service.

Arthur and I really enjoyed ourselves today and will definitely sign up for future activities. The event today was family friendly which I think is fantastic!

Since my recent visit to Trippy Taco, I’ve been looking for an excuse to go back. The other day we made a spur of the moment decision to go out to eat so I chose Trippy Taco, knowing Arthur and DeeW would at least eat the fries and Husband would probably go for the vegetarian nachos.

I was a bit wrong on most counts. Husband ended up getting fries and DeeW didn’t like the seasoning so she had nothing. While we wait for our food when we eat out, we break out the cards:

I liked the fries, they were nice and crunchy and the smoky seasoning was good:

I got the mixed taco meal, which was one tofu asada taco and a black bean taco. Delicious, but really messy to eat (though that’s probably just me, I’m not elegant in that arena):

For dessert I had to get the sweet corn tamale again, though I don’t know what happened to the puddle of maple syrup I had last time. It didn’t seem to make an appearance today. DeeW ate most of the ice cream:

I got the vegan nutella melt (which didn’t taste of hazelnuts, just a chocolate spread) as well, thinking Husband would go for this (which he didn’t), so Arthur and I shared it. Using our hands, we found it hard not to make a huge mess. I’m embarrassed about the amount of paper napkins we used to clean our faces and hands:

I’ll be going back and Arthur says he’d go back for the fries and the vegan chocolate melt. That’s my boy, super fussy about main meals but has no problem with dessert! Hnnnngggghhhhhh.

Trippy Taco is located at 234 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy. http://www.trippytaco.com.au/

I finally, FINALLY got to go to Trippy Taco. I still can’t believe I’ve never been there. Now that I have been, I’m really going to make up for lost time!

I had been doing stuff in Fitzroy and planned to go straight home when I realised I was right across the road from Trippy Taco. Awesome or what?! I was there well before dinner time and there were only two other customers. Perfect!

I took my time reading the menu but eventually settled for the tacquitos. The description was ‘three crispy, rolled up corn tortillas with black bean filling topped with guacamole, (vegan) cheese, salad and lime’. The salad was kind of basic to be honest but remember, Veganopoulous will probably never be convinced that iceberg lettuce belongs in a restaurant. After I polished off the tacquitos, which were very tasty (I wish I had more), I mixed the salad up with the the remaining saucy bits and guacamole:

Dessert! Remember, making up for lost time here folks. I got the ‘sweet corn tamale with icecream, bananas and maple syrup’. This was like a soft, moist, sweet cornbread. The ice cream was basic– using something like Zebra Dream would really make a difference (to the price as well probably!)– but the tamale itself was really good. Bananas and maple syrup are just that, but I thought they were perfect with this. Whenever I’ve made cornbread it has been dry and blergh. I really liked this dessert and would definitely get it again. In fact, I’m going on a mission to try and replicate it at home. Too bad I don’t have a Star Trek replicator:

The toilet is located outside Trippy Taco, up the little lane and at the back of the restaurant.

Trippy Taco is located at 234 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy. http://www.trippytaco.com.au/

I’ve been forgetting (or not bothering) to take my camera out and about lately so here are some snaps from my phone. The colours in Melbourne at this time of year are beautiful. Enjoy!

I was thrilled to see a burrito-serving place around the corner from my hotel and even more thrilled at the ‘vegan’ sign in the window. One of my first food stops for lunch was here at Zambrero, where I chose to pig out on a burrito containing everything veg: guacamole, rice, refried beans, lettuce, tomato, corn, japalenos, red onion, corn and a choice of a Zambrero sauce:

I was stuffed after this so the next time I read the menu properly and saw you can get the smaller size option. The staff at the Darlinghurst outlet on Oxford Street were super friendly and changed their gloves when making up my burrito. Win!

Zambrero have outlets in Melbourne too though I’ve never tried them. I am however inclined to make my own at home, though for Vegan MoFo I’d probably experiment with a raw wrap of some sort.

You may have read about my disaster making tortillas where I embarrassed myself. I still want to make my own, seeing as I spent money on a tortilla press, but I decided to head to La Tortilleria in Kensington with my sister to sample their offerings and perhaps walk away with a stack of authentic tortillas.

There’s a small table with samples when you walk in:

We decided to order some guacamole and tortilla chips, plus the vegan chorizo quesadilla each (with vegan cheese)… I forgot to take a photo before eating some:

I was a bit surprised that the quesadilla was snack size and was disappointed that the filling was the bare minimum 🙁 If you go there expecting a big size, you’ll be disappointed… and you may not like the $4.50 price tag.

I spoke to one of the staff and she told me they grind the corn themselves and they’re the only people in Australia who make tortillas this way. I was told I could take photos of the food but not any of the equipment, which is fair enough. You can see the tortillas being made behind a window (rather, being cranked through a machine).

I bought some tortillas to take home as I’d prefer to make my own fillings. If only my family were crazy about taco nights!

La Tortilleria is located at 72 Stubbs Street, Kensington. The seating area is very small but there is an area out the back I believe. Shortly after we arrived, lots of people rolled up (it was a weekend). http://latortilleria.com.au/

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Welcome!

Hello and welcome! I'm Faye and I blog about vegan life here in Melbourne, Australia. I love connecting readers with news of events, dining options, products, services and anything else that can help people already living, or those considering switching to a more plant based lifestyle. Family, my Greek roots, secondhand shopping and my home town are also a focus on my blog.